Rise of the Guardians: The Keystones
by Joushou-Sensei
Summary: There's a whole lot more going on in the guardian's universe, Jack begins to question the Powers that be and a new breed of Guardians must be awakened. "I'm glad I died, I got to meet you." Jack X OC Classic good vs. Evil and some romance thrown in.
1. Chapter 1

"_**Virtue may be defined as a habit of mind in harmony with reason and the order of nature. It has four parts: wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance." **_- _De Inventione_, II, LIII.

Rise of the Guardians: The Keystones

Ch. 1 Valerie Hunt

* * *

My name is Valerie Hunt, and today is the day that I die. The day had started out like any other; I had checked the mail on my way out. I had driven the speed limit like usual, waved a hello to the neighbors who I saw and even stopped and counted to thirty at the stop sign. It had been unusually cold for spring time even in Harlow, England. I'd had to chisel off the frost on my front windshield. I had been contemplating what I would have to do first when I got to work; start coffee? Or turn on the copy machine? That was the extent of my worries. That is until a great black cloud had descended on my car, picked it up and tossed it to the ground like a dog with a sock. You know it's true what people say, that when you're in danger the world around you slows down, mine certainly did. The car tumbled and with each twist and flip I could feel the restraining pressure of my seatbelt. The glass of my windows shattered and the crunch of metal could barely be heard over my screaming. Finally the car skidded to a stop, upside-down. It was so disorienting hanging like that, I could smell smoke but my body had taking such a beating I couldn't move it. Warm liquid seeped down my face to drip off my forehead and I turned my head as I heard a crunch of glass of the asphalt. Though my vision was blurring and mixed with tears and blood I saw one more thing before I lost the battle with consciousness. A pair of black high heeled booted feet at my driver side window and a face appeared. It was devoid of color, a pale grey and her eyes were so black they looked like pools of tar, she smiled wickedly and I could just make out two rows of razor sharp shark like teeth.

"See you in a bit." She said in an insanely happy voice.

'Guess this means no coffee…' then I was gone.

Jack's hand clenched his staff in one hand and held the trunk of the tree he was standing in so tightly that the trunk began to creak in resistance. He had seen the whole thing, the embodiment, the woman in black had attacked a human in plain sight and viciously at that. She was strong that was not in question; she had tossed around the small car like a toy.

"What in the…" He didn't really know what to do, confront her? No. North had to know about this, surely there was a law or rules even that prevented people like him attacking humans outright. Then she turned his way and grinned at him, and he hated to admit that she was terrifying. She was tall and slender but pointy and sharp looking with black hair that resembled feathers, and skin paler then his own. It felt like she was looking right at him, but before she could make a move for him the human's car burst into flames and the woman disappeared in a whiff of black smoke. Jack cautiously flew to the car and got down on all fours to look to see if the passenger had survived.

It was a young woman around twenty or so and she was dripping blood and going paler by the second, he couldn't see the rise and fall of her chest. Jack was suddenly blown backwards into a tree as the car's fire finally reached the gas tank and exploded. Jack sat in a stupor; the woman was surely dead now. He felt the prick of tears behind his eyes and shot up into the sky and let out a yell before making his way to the North Pole.

Dying was totally easy, and unexpectedly painless. Only now what was I supposed to do? I sat by the side of the road watching the emergency service rush to the car, firemen spraying my car with their water hose; EMT's braving the fire to pull my body out and town's people stopping as they passed. It's funny you know? I was sitting cross-legged on the cold asphalt, only I had to imagine it was cold because I couldn't feel it, and no matter how much I screamed or yelled at the people around me they went on like they couldn't see me, or hear me. Then I realized I must be a ghost. I was upset for a millisecond, then decided to just sit and wait. I mean surely someone up there was supposed to come and get me, right?

"I got an ID." One of the EMT's said sadly. I wanted to tell him not to be too sad; he had really tried to get me to breathe again.

"Valerie Hunt." He said shaking his head. You know he looked sort of familiar.

"I went to primary school with her." He said then and I nodded to myself, so that's it. I decide to tag along with him and watched as he and his partner placed my rather charred body into a black bag and zipped it up.

"We are ruling it accidental; I suppose she hit some black ice." His partner told the fuzz that had showed up to keep the civilians out of harm's way.

"If that was ice then you and I have a totally different definition mate." I said, however it was only for my benefit. As the ambulance drove off I thought that this was all so morbid. The cleanup crew did a stand up job and soon traffic was normal again, no indication that someone had died only thirty minutes ago. What really had hit me? A freakishly big bear, a mini tornado, or maybe it was an alien crash landing.

"Yeah, that must be it Val." I laughed to myself, but found myself wondering about the woman I saw. She had reminded me of a crow, all black and sharp, but man her teeth! If I could have shivered at the thought I would have.

"So what to do now?" I wondered out loud. The sun was brighter now I noticed, and for a moment I could swear that it whispered. I shook my head out of habit, I had to be losing my mind I mean I had already lost my body maybe this was part of the process.

"It's not." Said a woman's voice, I swiveled to my right and left but found no one.

"Up here." It said and this time I squinted at the sun. Wow really? The sun was talking to me now, but what the hey I'll go with it, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that had happened so far today.

"So…you're the sun." I said stupidly, but seriously how did one speak to the sun?

"Yes, but usually embodiments call me Sol." She said sounding as patent as my grandmother had been. If the sun had a face I was sure it would be a kind one always smiling.

"Right, so are you going to tell me if I get to stay in purgatory or if I get to stand in line at the pearly gates? Because I would rather not go south if you catch my drift." I said laughing lamely at my own joke.

"Neither, go to the North Pole. Chris Cringle will know what to do with you." I waited for a moment or two for the eventual 'Ha, just kidding!' but it never came.

"Are you messing with me? Santa Claus? Now I know I'm going mad." I said bring my hands to my head as if rubbing it would bring my sanity back. I heard the sun literally sigh in frustration.

"I cannot force you, but trust me." I had heard things like this before, you know in movies and books and from the prime minister. Nothing good ever came from those two words: Trust and Me.

"Well seeing as how I suddenly have a whole lotta time on my hands I might as well start trekking." I said waspishly. So the sun had pissed me off, what was she going to do? Give me a ghostly sun burn? Besides, maybe I wasn't insane and Santa was real, or maybe I could haunt a few people along the way. Either way was fine I guess.

* * *

Jack burst through the front doors of the North palace, elves and yetis stopped mid toy making to see who had burst in only to go right back to their work once they saw who it was.

"North!" Jack shouted ascending the stairs to the elevator and jumping in it. Jack ran the rest of the way to the one room he knew the older man would be in. He burst through that door too and breathing hard he came to a stop.

Santa looked up from his work desk and bellowed out a loud hello before hopping up and grabbing Jack to give him a mighty bear hug.

"Jack Frost! What brings you here my boy?" He said in his Russian accent. Jack immediately began to recall the events of what had happened, the car the dark woman and the human who had died. The whole while Santa's face became more and more grave.

"Then is exploded! I mean isn't there a law against this sort of thing?" the more Jack thought about it the angrier he got. Santa crossed his arms and was deep in thought.

"We should call the others, this is serious and you're a new guardian so you wouldn't know, but I think everyone should be here when it is explained to you." The older man said as he passed Jack and went to the Northern Light Switch and turned it. It had been a whole year since Pitch had run amuck, and Jack was still learning about the guardian gig. As the aurora glittered in the sky Santa turned to Jack.

"Come Jack the others will be here in a few moments." Jack nodded and settled on a wooden stool and declined the cookies that the elves offered him. His thoughts drifted to the human woman. He was only a guardian for children, but was there something he could have done? She'd had a peaceful sort of look on her face though maybe she hadn't suffered, he hoped she hadn't. Santa watched over his shoulder the silent Jack, the poor boy had no clue what was about to be explained to him. He hoped that Jack could take it.

Tooth arrived first and happily greeted Jack and Santa but then noticed both of their dark moods. Sandy was next and immediately felt the tension and gave a '?' to Tooth who only shrugged her brightly colored shoulders. Bunny was last and as soon as his furry head popped out of his hole he began to complain.

"What on earth is going on now? You do realize that it's almost Easter, again? I'm a very busy bunny; you can't just be calling me all willy nilly!" He stopped short of what he was going to say to Jack when he got a look of the boy's face.

"Hey what's going on?" He asked now looking at everyone else. Santa gave a huge sigh and motioned for everyone to follow him into his workshop. Everyone took a seat and waited expectantly for the oldest of the guardians to begin.

"Bunny, Tooth, Sandy you all know what I'm about to explain to Jack and you need to know that Eris was sighted. Jack saw her, and she killed a human." Tooth's wings momentarily stopped fluttering and she let out a startled gasp and looked to Jack.

"She didn't hurt you did she?" She asked worriedly. Jack shook his head but couldn't find it in him to speak so he looked back to Santa now eager to know what they had kept from him. Sandy formed an '!' while Bunny shook his head, his ears flopping this way and that he too was astounded.

"But…But how?" He muttered looking down to the ground. Santa cleared his throat and looked to Jack's awaiting eyes.

"Jack, as you know we are not the only embodiments in the world." To this Jack nodded, he had met a few others.

"Well to be honest we are the younger ones, Mani, or the man in the moon existed before all of us, along with his sister Sol who created her own embodiments, Eris existed before us as well and created the embodiments of darkness, like Pitch." Jack was keeping up pretty well and figured that Eris was the Ying to Mani's and Sol's Yang.

"In the universe there must be a balance you see, but it has been eons since Eris was seen." This greatly trouble Santa for had only ever heard of Eris from Mani.

"She is beyond any of us as a creator, but there are a few who were created by Sol to combat Eris' desire to throw the balance off kilter. Sol is in charge of protecting the balance of the world you see, while Mani is in charge of protecting the humans who inhabit it. They have constantly been keeping Eris in check, but if you have seen her than something is terribly wrong." Now the large man sat in his own chair and frowned at the fire that was crackling next to him.

"Wouldn't Mani have mentioned this though?" Tooth asked quickly. Santa sighed, Mani and Sol did what they wanted, and told what they wanted.

"If he knew, maybe." He answered her despairingly. Jack stood up suddenly then.

"Well if there are guardians who can stop Eris then we need to find them!" He said heatedly. Santa nodded but still looked defeated.

"The only problem with that is that no one embodiment knows how to find the Keystones." Bunny said looking to Santa.

"The Keystones?" Jack asked looking between the others. Tooth nodded and fluttered her wings enough to have her floating.

"The Keystones are the four guardians of the balance; they were created by Sol when earth began its rotation around the Sun, as old as Time and Memory themselves." she said smartly.

"It is said that they slumber, hidden away, and will return when they are needed." Santa finished for the group.

"Well they are needed!" Jack said slumping back down into his chair. He couldn't help but think that if a guardian had been near that the woman who had died would still be alive and well.

There was a heavy knock on the door and it opened slowly to reveal a yeti. He spoke to Santa in what Jack thought was some sort of language before Santa shot from his chair and out the door.

"Uh. Okay." Jack said as the others made to follow.

* * *

So I will admit, the North Pole? Totally real and fancy mind you. I had not been expecting the yetis though. I thought at first it was odd how quickly I had been able to find the place, but I had shrugged it off to the fact that I could fly and I really didn't want to question it. I felt guided to the place. Another oddity, the elves and yetis could see me. I had knocked a few times and when the huge wooden doors had opened I think that both the yeti and I had both nearly fainted in shock, well me more figuratively.

"You can see me?" I asked and the great harry thing nodded with his mouth ajar.

"Is this were Santa lives?" I asked him and hoped that he spoke English. Again he nodded and held the door open for me and then said something I couldn't make out before rushing off. I could feel the eyes of the others in the room on me but was too distracted by the magically flying planes and the hundreds of toys being made. It was amazing and my smile was so wide it was almost painful.

"Wicked." I muttered before an elf that only came up to my ankle offered me a cookie.

"Oh well I would but, I'm dead and I don't think I would be able to eat it. Thanks though." I said sadly, I really did want to try the cookie it looked delicious. The elf smiled at me and ran off to his friends who seemed to congratulate him on his courage. To my left an elevator creaked and it's door slammed open and then and there my childhood dreams stared me in the face. Santa Freaking Claus. Only the guy looked about ready to cut my head off and mount it on his wall. I felt my own jaw gape as he and a few others made their way over to me.

'Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap what do I say?' I wondered what I should ask the big man in red; hey you gave me the wrong toy horse when I was seven, what's with that? No he probably wouldn't like that. He came to a stop an arm's length away from me and for a moment we just stared at each other.

"So, what's up Santa? Nice place you got." I said cheerfully trying to lighten the mood, but by the looks on bird girl's, short stack's, and the giant bunny's faces it hadn't worked. There was a last edition to the party a boy of maybe eighteen who stumbled in last. He got one look at me and stared with wide eyes like he had, pardon the pun, seen a ghost.

Jack nearly fell over at the sight of her, the woman he had seen in the car stood not four feet from him smiling awkwardly at them. She wasn't alive though he noticed sadly, she shone with a pale outline and he could somewhat see through her opaque body.

"You're a ghost!" He said frantically and moved closer to examine her. She gave a queer smile and took a step back.

"So I've noticed, I died…what an hour or so ago?" she asked to herself. Jack shook his head incredulously. She had no color to her, ether so her ethereal pale blue light was all that she had but Jack could imagine the chestnut of her hair, which was curled around her shoulders and the peachy skin he had seen, and he wondered what color her eyes would have been.

"My dear, how did you find my palace?" Santa asked genuinely confused, human's alive or dead didn't just stumble upon the North Pole. The woman looked back to Santa and shrugged.

"Well, it's a funny story really. The sun told me to come see you." She said as if it was a joke. The group all tensed though and she saw it.

"What?" She asked looking between them. Then she seemed to notice that his friends weren't entirely human either.

"Hold on." She said holding a hand up to emphasize her command.

"Who are you…people? Is people the right word because…you know one of you is a rabbit a very big rabbit." She said trying for polite. Jack laughed a little she looked a little afraid for her safety, everyone looked at him suddenly.

"What?" He asked accusingly. She seemed to be taking death pretty well; he turned to her and began to introduce his friends.

"Let me help you out this is Sandy the sand man, Tooth the tooth fairy, and Bunny the Easter bunny of course you know Santa and I am Jack Frost." He said trying to be friendly and lessen her apprehension for some reason he wanted her to feel at ease and safe.

WOW. Who knew that all these legends roomed together?

"My dear, may I know your name?" Santa asked me. I nodded and curtseyed, I mean he was Santa for Pete sake that's almost royalty right?  
"Valerie Hunt." I told him. I heard Jack stifle a laugh and I found that he was the most relatable person in the room so I smiled his way appreciatively.

"What is a bloody ghost doing here!" The bunny asked staring at me like I had three heads. Jack jumped in now.

"This is the human that Eris…"I knew instinctively that he was going to say killed, but he looked my way and seemed to think better of it, but how could I have known that? Tooth flew over to me.

"I don't have a record of a Valerie Hunt." She said studying me intently but not unkindly. Santa nodded and motioned for everyone to calm down. The short Sandy who was rather quiet looked to the big man and formed a symbol I had only seen in history books; it looked something like a rune. Santa nodded and then looked back at me.

"You say the sun sent you but you don't know why?" I nodded at this and he smiled and patted his stomach.

"Wonderful! Welcome! You must know where the Keystones are!" I held up a hand in pause.

"Hang on big red; I have no idea what you're talking about." At this his face fell and I felt sort of bad, but I mean I couldn't help it.

A commotion up the stairs caused all of us to look up, and higher up was a globe with glowing dots and a control panel I assumed Santa used for all his super-secret agent stuff. They all scrambled to it and I floated there, I was getting the hang of it. You know those weird days when the moon is out during the day? Well today was one of those days and it was shining pretty bright considering it was only ten in the morning, or maybe it wasn't I had travelled through some time zones. A large crystal came up from the floor and the moon shone on it and then spoke in a commanding male voice words I had never heard. The light on the crystal redirected and shot straight at me and all in one moment I saw a map of the world and a plotted course. The others around me watched on in amazement.

"Take my guardian's with you; until you are whole again you are vulnerable. Hurry." With that the light faded and the moon receded into the blue sky till it was gone.

"Tell me you guys saw that too?" I asked them. They shook their heads but Santa put a large hand on my shoulder.

"I heard what he said; we will come with you Valerie." I nodded. I was in a whirlwind, I didn't know what to think, the sun and the moon weren't telling me crap and the so called guardian's at Santa's palace kept staring at me in awe. I was suddenly so very unsure of myself or what I was supposed to do. I looked up at big red.

"What should I do? I don't know what's going on." He smiled kindly at me, and suddenly the others had moved in and smiled as well.

"It's our job to protect humans so it looks like we'll be going with ya." Bunny said in is aussie accent and gave me a wink. Who knew bunnies could wink?

"That's right! Now we'll have plenty of time to look at those teeth of yours!" She was sweet but an odd one.

Sandy gave me a sand thumbs up, Jack who seemed the most happy about my arrival shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie and smiled.

"Where do we go?" He asked. Man they were excepting.

"The Mediterranean I think." I said closing my eyes and seeing the map again.

"Yeah, to a little island off the cost of Greece." Santa laughed and shouted something and suddenly I was being shuffled along.

"Wait till you see the sleigh everyone loves the sleigh." Jack said to me.

"Can I meet Rudolf?" I asked seriously, Jack only laughed at me. I think being dead isn't so bad, and maybe I have gone crazy and I am only dreaming this, but I'm pretty glad to have happened upon these…uh people.

"Oh and please everyone call me Val."

* * *

Well let me know what you think, I just saw this movie and love it!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Say What?

Everyone loved the sleigh did they? Well I could do without. But I had to be the one giving directions, so I sat with North up front. Bunnymund as I had learned was his full name was green in the face, if rabbits could turn green. Tooth opted to fly alongside us and Sandy and Jack were having enough fun for all of us.

"Uh I think we're pretty close this place feels familiar." I said feels and meant it. Odd, really odd. It was nostalgic, liked i lived here before and moved away. The sea below us was crystal clear and blue as Jack's eyes. Islands dotted its surface and each one looked nearly the same.

"Which one is it?" North asked reining in the reindeer. I searched left and right, but didn't see the one I was looking for. I frowned then.

"I don't know…" everyone was looking now and as we slowly moved towards the outer reaches of the Greek coast line I began to feel immensely dumb. Then a small sparkle caught my eye. It was dim in the daylight but wiggled and swayed as if waving to me.

"Do you see that?" I asked no one in particular.

"See what?" Jack asked moving to look the direction I was.

"There's a dim light there on that island." North steered around and towards the small island. As we got closer the light got dimmer.

"This must be the place, if Val can see a light that we can't." Tooth said fluttering to the picture perfect beach. We landed and everyone jumped off. As soon as my ghostly feet touched the ground I gasped. It wasn't that I needed the air, but that a sudden feeling of homesickness overwhelmed me.

"You alright?" jack and Bunny asked me in unison. I nodded but held up a hand.

"Yeah just yet another odd thing to add to the list for today." North rounded and smiled heartily at me.

"This must be Keystone, they say that when the continents were yet to be broken apart that human life sprang from the earth here." I looked at him drolly. All life started here?

"What you mean that this used to be the center of Pangaea?"All five looked at me. What? I was a history buff alright? North nodded agreeing with my assumption.

"This is where Sol created the Keystones."I nodded, I'll go with that. Jack swung his staff to rest on his shoulders.

"So where to?" he asked. I honestly didn't know. The light was gone.

"Uh…" I looked towards the tree line, and started that way and everyone followed. The deeper we went the darker it became until we came upon some ruins. Nature had retaken the stones of houses, and statues. I stopped in the middle of it all and looked for a sign.

"Come on, just give me something." I said in irritation.

"Maybe you have to say some magic words or something?" Jack suggested. Bunny rolled his eyes, while Tooth floated up to get a bird's eye view.

"And what words do you think she should say?" Bunny asked Jack crossing his arms. Jack rolled his eyes.

"I don't know I was trying to help, unlike someone."They glared at each other and then looked away both grunting in annoyance. North went to placate them and it was then that I saw a glow. At first it was a small smudge on the stone road, but then its outline shaped itself into that of a foot. And then another appeared, and another. Until there was a line of firefly like foots steps heading into a rather large looking building. It looked as if the building was built into the rock of a small mountain.

_"We are here…"_ A faint whisper called. I followed the footsteps and North grabbed jack and Bunny, and followed me.

"Val?" Tooth asked me. But It was like her voice was a million miles away, and my feet wouldn't stop. I felt so drawn to the temple like building. Sandy, ever silent sent everyone a '?'.

"Just follow her; she's in a sort of trance." North said to everyone. We walked up a flight of stone steps, and past a once great hall into a darker room that was cave like, the only light came from a hole cut from the rock, and it shone down in a beam on the middle of the rock floor.

"Wow." I heard Jack say. Amongst the walls four huge statues were sat in each corner of the room. You couldn't tell if they were men or women, and each statue had their eyes closed and each held an object. There were words at their bases but none now existed that could read them. The first statue to my right held a weighing scale, the second held a pitcher that was overflowing, the third held a mirror facing the person who looked upon the statue and the final statue had a sword, the point down and both hands resting on the hilt.

"Are these…" Bunny trailed off as I walked to the center of the room.

"Virtus et Fortitudo." I found myself saying as if it was natural, and in a voice not my own. Then things got exciting. The walls moved and shifted and suddenly I was not on the floor anymore but floating.

"Val!" Jack yelled as the five guardians watched the room move. Jack went to jump for me but North held him back.

"No! Wait Jack!" He said, just as a hail of black feathers, sharp as razors whizzed past me and embedded themselves in the rock wall.

"Well, hello again." I tried to move away from her but I was stuck in the light that had grasped me. She cocked her head to the side and smiled cruelly at me.

"You brought friends I see. Too bad they can't help you much Virtus." The creator of all things dark and horrible stared at me as if waiting. Her fingers twitched in anticipation and they looked to me like sharp little knives.

"What do you want from me?" I asked her managing to find my voice. Her smile widened and the gleaming razors in her mouth gnashed.

"I want you to cease to exist, of course." I thought that a bit odd.

"But you already killed me." I said in my confusion. I could hear Jack and Bunny yelling to me but for some reason they couldn't cross the threshold of the door way. She laughed at me and the sound was like nails grating on a chalk board.

"Silly, I merely destroyed your human body; your soul wouldn't perish so easily." She reached out for me then as if to sink her sharp claws into my chest. As soon as she touched me I felt an immense heat, and wondered how it was that I was tangible again.

"Valerie!" I heard Jack yell again and this time it seemed that someone else heard it to. Before Eris' hand could go any further two pairs of hands grabbed her by the arms and flung her into the wall with a great thud. I opened my eyes to look at who had saved me. They were nearly identical sets of armor much like what you would see in Greek paintings. One was female, and beautiful with flowing pale mauve hair and crystal like blue eyes, and in her left hand she held a bronze mirror. The other was a man with wild black curly hair that was held back from his face with a golden band and clear green eyes. He held a scale in his right hand. They looked from me to the dark creator in the wall.

"Eris, your impropriety knows no bounds." Said the woman.

"What…what the hell is going on?" I shouted. I had had enough, first I died well was murdered, then I find out that every freaking legend in the books are real, and then! Then that damn woman wants me double dead and now this, I was serious I can't take much more.

"Peace sister." Came a calm voice from behind me. A hand touched my shoulder and in an instant I floated down again to the floor followed by the other two. A snap of other woman's finger and the guardians ran to me. I turned to see who had calmed me with just a touch and found another astoundingly beautiful man smiling at me and he was holding a silver pitcher. This one was blonde but had neatly combed medium length hair that had a wave to it, and his eyes were blue like the sky.

"You are still in your human frame of mind, so you will not remember us but I am Sapientia that is Aequitas." He pointed to the other man.

"And your sister Temperantia." She gave me small nod and smile. All of them seemed to glow and looked like ghosts but with color.

"Eris seems to have not considered that in this place we can move about freely." Aequitas said looking toward the woman who was just now pulling herself from the ruble.

"She meant to kill you while you regained your former vassal." Temperantia said and held up her mirror and pointed it at Eris. A blast of wind surged towards the crow woman but she vanished in a puff of smoke with a cackle.

"Then you're all…and Val is…" Tooth fluttered this way and that while North stared at me at a loss.

"I thought you were simply a guide, forgive my ignorance." He said dismayed. I shook my head.

"Hey I didn't know either." I said patting his shoulder.

"Our thanks to you, Guardians, for returning Virtus to us." Sapientia said with a slight bow. I frowned then.

"What does that mean, Virtus?" I asked him. He smiled at me and laughed quietly.

"You truly have forgotten. It means Valor; we all represent a keystone virtue. You are courage, Temperantia is temperance, Aequitas is justice and I am wisdom." I nodded slowly. O…kay. My day kept getting stranger and stranger.

"In order to fight Eris you will need your body back." Temperantia said motioning to the center of the floor again.

"Wait, you mean I have to fight her?" I asked suddenly ready to bolt out the door.

"Only one of us can be active at a time, all four of us would tip the balance." She said gently taking my wrist in her hand.

"You have the guardians with you Virtus! No need to be cowardly! You are better than that; you are the embodiment of courage after all!" Said Aequitas slapping my back as I passed him. I looked behind me to the guardians who seemed as though they didn't know what to do. I looked at Jack and mouthed 'help me!' but he shrugged my way as if to say sorry.

"Stand here." My so called sister said, and in dismay I did as I was told. Maybe my pervious go with it attitude was not such a wise decision earlier.

"I'm not going to have to wear armor am I?" I asked her and once again she gave me a small smile.

"You will need it. But if you truly do not want to wear it then simply will it to be so." With that she let me go and again with the bright light. I would be blind by the end of this, if not wiped out of existence completely by a raving bird lunatic. When I opened my eyes again I felt heavier. Temperantia held up her mirror. I almost looked like me again, my hair was still brown and fell to my shoulders, and my eyes were still my human hazel color too. Okay nothing weird. Then I looked down. I remembered watching gladiator one time, and now my outfit reminded me of the armor Max had worn in the beginning.

"Yeah…" I said giving her a desperate look.

"You must will it." She said sternly. I closed my eyes and simply said.

"Please just change back to normal." When I opened them I was in a pair of skinny jeans and my favorite red t-shirt and sneakers.

"Much better."

"We can only give you advice sister, but we cannot leave the sanctuary until it is our time to rein. Trust that your friends and Sol with guide you." Sapientia said moving back towards his statue.

"Eris may have retreated today but she will be after you, you mission is to maintain balance do not forget." Aequitas said giving me a nod. Temperantia was last and she turned to hug me, which I returned awkwardly. She then produced a sword and held it out to me.

"You will need this, simply call upon it when you need it." With that she to disappeared into her statue. The sword disappeared in my hands and I turned to look at my new friends.

"Anyone else think that was a bit weird?" I asked them. North laughed heartily.

"We had better find out what Eris' plan is, until then you can stay with me at the North Pole." He said walking my way and patting my back.

"I've never seen a Keystones teeth before, do you think I could get a look when we get back?" Tooth asked me hovering to my right. The soft buzz of her wings was somewhat comforting.

"Sure I guess." Bunny sighed and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Why is it that whenever there is something catastrophic about to happen it's always around Easter?" I whined. Jack grinned and patted the furry bunny's shoulder.

"Well I'm not busy and I'm sure Val would love to help. Right Val?" He looked at me and I suddenly felt very resigned. This is what life would be now? All strangeness with a looming darkness? Was I really what they said I was? I didn't feel any different, except that I had a body again. I pushed the worry of the day back to the darkest part of my mind.

"Sure, I can dye eggs." I said following the group back to the sleigh. I kept to the back though, thoughts resurfacing and me pushing them back down. Jack sided up to me without me noticing.

"You alright?" He asked his voice laced with concern. I looked to the boy next to me, he was cute, and good natured, and it was easy to like him.

"Well, I'm not really sure what to do. Everything sort of happened so fast that I still can't believe some of it. Just this morning I was plain old Valerie worrying about coffee Now I'm some sort of world protector? Please I've never even taken a self defense class." I sighed then. Jack nodded.

"I completely understand. For right now let's just take baby steps, and hopefully this whole thing with Eris won't be as bad as they say."I laughed and he helped me up into the sleigh, no more floating for me. His hand was chilly like ice, but I found that mine was hotter than usual so it didn't bother me.

"Baby steps Val, you can do it." I hoped he was right.

* * *

Thank you for your reviews! Sorry I took so long! school got in the way.


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